Landscape with rainbow (Bohemian pastoral landscape)

Landscape with Rainbow (Bohemian Pastoral Landscape), painted in 1841 and held by the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, brings together Richter's two most consistent landscape preoccupations: the specific Bohemian terrain he had studied since his Italian return, and meteorological phenomena — particularly light effects — as vehicles of spiritual meaning. The rainbow in German Romantic iconography was among the most loaded natural symbols: deriving from the Biblical covenant in Genesis, it signalled divine promise and reconciliation between heaven and earth. Friedrich had made it central to his most theologically ambitious landscapes; Richter's treatment is characteristically warmer and less solitary — the rainbow arcs over a pastoral scene animated by rural figures, its covenant message embedded in communal life rather than isolated individual contemplation. The Dresden collection holds this as a representative example of Richter's mid-career synthesis.

Painting a rainbow required Richter to handle a wet-atmosphere effect — the diffused, spectral colour arc against storm-grey sky — alongside the sunlit pastoral foreground that the rain has just cleared. The technical challenge is maintaining luminosity in the arc itself while keeping the surrounding storm clouds convincingly dark.